As many riders have experienced, having a bicycle wheel hit a rock, pothole, or other obstruction can cause the tire to pinch which can result in a flat tire. Field repair of a flat tire, such as on the side of a road or trail, can be difficult, and the time it can take to make the repair can be the difference between winning or losing a race, or even getting home in time for a meal or appointment. With the advent of composite rims, such as carbon fiber rims, any impact can lead to rim failure, and even visually minor cracks or other damage can propagate in composite rims and lead to catastrophic failure.
To enhance bike performance and tire traction, some competitive riders have recently favored tubeless tires, but there are some notable drawbacks. For example, flat tubeless tires can be very difficult to repair or replace, especially on the side of a road or trail. During mounting, air being pumped inside the tire can readily leak because the tire beads are not yet properly seated and sealed with the rim. With this air leakage, conventional pumps, such as floor pumps, foot pumps, hand pumps, and the like, typically are unable to provide enough high pressure and/or large volumes of air (or other gas) in a rapid fashion so as to create sufficient pressure to push the sidewalls of the tire in an outwards direction so as to seat tubeless tires. These pumps lack sufficient pump throughput to overcome the leakage rate from the tire in order to create enough pressure or force on the tire sidewalls to seat the tire beads.
Consequently, tubeless tire setups have to be aired up or inflated initially with a blast of air typically from a compressor or CO2 cartridge in order to seat the beads of the tire. This blast of air provides a high pressured, large volume air or other gas in a rapid fashion to the interior of the tire which in turn causes the sidewalls of the tire to spread apart until the tire beads are seated in the rim. Once the tire beads are seated, a proper seal is formed between the tire and rim that allows the tire to be inflated in a conventional manner. Some floor pumps with high pressure tanks have been proposed for providing this blast of air, but this expensive and complicated solution still does not address the underlying issue. Moreover, these specialized floor pumps with high pressure tanks and compressors are not usually available when they are needed most, that is, during a ride. Thus, there is a need for improvement in this field.